Griff's Bar and Billiards - Bar Rescue Update - Open or Closed?

In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Griff's Bar and Billiards in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Griff's Bar and Billiards is owned by Mark Griffin.

He bought the billiard bar in 2016 and it is his 7th pool room with 26 pool tables.

Mark focused on the pool room and Gary the General Manager ran the bar and kitchen.

It took off fast and well, making money consistently until the pandemic hit.

Mark had a health scare while the bar was closed so he is not able to be present like he used to.

After the restrictions eased, Mark had to recover and Gary was left to run the place alone.

Mark does not think Gary did enough to run the place well and now there is friction between them.

With this, the bar is struggling to get back on its feet.

Jon recons the bar with expert mixologist Phil Wills.

Jon fills him in on the owners and the dynamic between the owner and the general manager.

The kitchen is small and there is a good amount of staff.

Phil and expert chef Jason Santos are the spies who go in to sample the service.

They sit at the bar and are told they do not have a cocktail menu.

They order drinks and pizzas.

The bartender goes far away to make the drinks rather than make it in front of them.

They find out the reason for this is that the well in front of them is not properly set up.

The drinks taste like pre mix and are sour and disgusting.

Max and Gary bicker and Jon enters just as the pizza is served.

Jon meets Mark and introduces the experts.

Mark complains about Gary not having management skills and he is called into the conversation.

Gary says the pizza is all they can manage and it works for them.

He doesn’t know what the food costs are.

Gary complains he is all by himself without help and he has been there 7 days a week for a number of years.

Jon comes in the next day to meet with the staff.

He commends them on having a clean hall, bar and kitchen.

He says while the hall is beautiful they are failing in quality drinks, consistency and standard of drinks.

The food is poor quality and tasted like store bought frozen food.

Gary does not know the food costs or drink costs and seems lazy at analysing the numbers.

Jon says he needs direct knowledge of what is going on.

He thinks that they should have quality signature drinks and food to up their game.

During the training Phil discovers that the staff all think Gary is a bad manager.

They say that they frequently run out of things and hardly have staff meetings.

When Phil corrects him on how to run the bar Gary doesn’t seem interested.

The bartenders are then trained on making a green bloody mary.

In the kitchen, Jason trains the staff on making a burger slider.

He also teaches them food costs and how to work out much profit they stand to make.

Gary points out the kitchen will be foggy when they get busy especially cooking fresh food.

For stress test they are using a pool table to simulate success by filling a rack with a ball for every mistake they make.

When it is full, they will be done.

The customers are let in and the stress test is started.

Jon has a customer start a timer to see how long it takes to get served.

Gary is behind the bar bartending and he needs help so earns them the first ball in the rack.

The other bartenders are doing great making multiple drinks.

The kitchen is also doing well working through the orders with good food sent out.

The customer with the timer is served within 12 minutes, which is okay.

Gary takes food to the wrong table and misses an order.

He needs hand holding but still makes costly mistakes.

Gary has now slowed down the kitchen as they have had to remake orders.

This has led to other customers being left to wait longer for meals due to his mistakes.

They soon have 17 balls in the rack and the night is shutdown.

At feedback Gary is told he was the point of failure with his error causing meals to be remade.

Jon says he still has promise because he owns his mistakes and they resolve to work on it.

The next day, Phil says he is happy with how the bartenders performed.

He trains them on more advanced cocktail recipes.

Their signature drinks will be in a drink dispensing globe.

The space is renovated over 36 hours and the team are gathered at night to unveil the bar.

Jon says the space was good already and he only had to make small changes.

He added technology and upgraded their products and services.

The bar hasn’t been renamed but the sign has been upgraded with a new, brighter look.

Inside the bar is brighter with flashier signage and custom pool themed lights.

There is a Taffer’s Seltzer cooler and Rzero moveable UV light to disinfect the room.

There are OneStone tabs for promotions with a hand sanitizer dispenser

They have a subscription to Partender for inventory, Compeat for accounting and Atmosphere TV for ambiance.

They have three new future POS terminals and Skytabs for orders.

There are three Bluezone boxes in the pool hall to scrub the air and a Pathspot box at the bar for clean hands.

The staff set up and invites customer in for the relaunch.

On relaunch, the staff are working well.

The kitchen is sending out great food and the bartenders serve well made drinks.

Gary is now better at running food.

Anthony is helping running food because the kitchen staff have everything handled.

The customers love all the changes and the ambience.

They are enjoying playing pool and like the space.

Jon is pleased with it all and says all he did was work on the people as the space was already great.

What Happened Next at Griff's Bar and Billiards?

Griff's Bar and Billiards is open.

Reviews are mostly positive with praise for the cleanliness of the place.

Mark fired Gary after the rescue.

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This post was last updated in March 2022.